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Beauty Sleuth

I think that brand licensing and diffusion lines are really confusing. Add onto that the new “grey” market in which mass merchants like Target are suddenly selling products usually found only in salons and upscale department stores (i.e. Bumble and Bumble, Kiehl’s, O.P.I), and it’s that much more difficult to understand what you’re buying these days. Is it the real deal? Expired product? Something completely different?

Such was the case when I started using a new moisturizer and began digging into the who/what/where, etc behind it. The cream in question is Kirkland Signature by Borghese Age Defying Protective Moisture Lotion SPF 15. I’m familar with Borghese. It’s an Italian beauty house with a longstanding reputation for deriving innovative formulas with products from the earth, and not testing on animals. So I was totally confused when I headed to their web site to read up on my new moisturizer only to find that the product was nowhere to be found. After a quick Google search, I was redirected to…Costco. Huh?

Kirkland Signature by Borghese is a partnership between low and high- a mingling of classes, if you will. According to Borghese, this line incorporates the same quality ingredients and formulations. But they are able to offer them exclusively to Costco customers at rock-bottom prices- up to 85% less than those of the Borghese products found at spas and Bloomingdales.

I’ve never used a moisturizer from Borghese before, so I can’t make a direct comparison to the one I’ve been using from Costco. It’s a good cream, unscented, goes on light and soaks in quickly. I think the formula would work best on women with slightly oily skin because it is so light. I have normal to dry skin and felt a little tightness after using the moisturizer. At $14.99, it’s on par with other drugstore favorites such as Dove face creams.

A few of the KS by Borghese products are available on Costco’s web site- although this moisturizer is not one of them. You can click here to find out if your local Costco carries it. If you’re a fan of Borghese and have tried the Kirkland Signature products, I’d love to hear what you think.